Weather.com to storm ahead

Do you have a growing online business in the travel, weather or entertainment arenas?

If so, The Weather Channel may be looking for you. Today, the company’s interactive division issued a press release saying that it was looking to spend $1 million to $50 million on profitable or nearly profitable businesses that are “natural extensions of weather.com.”

The Atlanta company, whose Web site attracts about 30 million visitors per month, said potential target areas include travel, health, recreation, sports, traffic and other local content.

I can think of a few Seattle startups in these segments, though not sure they are at the point where they are ready to sell: Inrix in traffic analysis; TripHub and Farecast in travel; Healia in health; Newsvine in local news.

Still, it is kind of interesting to see a company of The Weather Channel’s size and status come right out and tell people exactly what they are looking for.